Conventional optoelectronic components, for example OLEDs, are usually constructed from a substrate, optically functional layers, for example organic functional layers, electrode layers, an encapsulation layer, for example a thin-film encapsulation layer (TFE), against action of moisture, and a covering body, for example a cover plate. In many cases, a heat sink and/or a heat spreader, for example a metal plate or a metal film, are/is also laminated onto the cover glass. The cover plate serves as mechanical protection and as a further moisture barrier and, like the substrate, generally consists of solid glass. The cover glass is usually laminated onto the substrate over the whole area in the context of the production process. The encapsulation layer is formed between the cover plate and the substrate and generally extends over the entire substrate.
During the production process, a plurality of optoelectronic components are produced in the component assemblage and are subsequently singulated, for example by means of scribing and breaking the substrate and the cover plate. In the component assemblage, the substrate and the cover plate extend in each case integrally over a plurality of optoelectronic components. The scribing and breaking can be effected in such a way that electrical contacts for electrically contacting the electrode layers are exposed in the process or at least only the encapsulation layer and/or diverse intermediate layers, such as an adhesive layer, for example, have to be removed in order that the electrical contacts are at least partly exposed and thus electrically contactable. A mechanical, environmentally resistant electrical contacting of the electrical contacts can be difficult, for example if the contact regions are mechanically sensitive. Furthermore, the electrical contacting that necessitates locally damaging the encapsulation layer can impair the effect thereof, since it is no longer closed areally and contaminants can possibly penetrate between the encapsulation layer and the electrical contact. Such contaminants can then advance as far as the optically functional layers and damage the latter.
Therefore, it is possible to form the electrical contacts, for example of OLEDs or of organic solar cells, for example in an edge region of the corresponding optoelectronic component, for example alongside an optically active and/or functional region and/or at a spur of the electrode to be contacted, and to electrically contact them there. A relatively high mechanical and/or thermal loading can be employed in this region since no sensitive layers, for example organic functional layers, are situated underneath. In the edge region, furthermore, the electrical contacts can be reinforced, for example made particularly thick, since the requirements made of the electrical contact in the edge region may be different in comparison with the electrode in the active region. By way of example, a lower transparency may be acceptable in the edge region. Moreover, the mechanical sensitivity may be reduced, for example because a mechanical damage to the electrical contact may have fewer effects on the operation of the optoelectronic component than a mechanical damage to the electrode in the active region, for example if no optically functional layers are arranged below the electrical contact in the edge region.
However, an electrical contacting exclusively in the edge region can lead to disadvantages in the current distribution in the optoelectronic component, which may require the arrangement of electrically conductive intermediate lines, such as busbars, for example. Furthermore, the electrical contacting exclusively in the edge region requires a structured arrangement of the optically functional layer structures and the electrodes.